Bears still in hunt for playoff slot> 8 league games remain

Despite its seventh-place standing in the eight-team America East, the University of Maine baseball team remains in the hunt for one of four postseason spots.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Black Bears were 18-23 going into Tuesday’s non-league game against Husson College of Bangor.update after Tuesday game Maine stands at 7-13 in America East play after Vermont swept four games in Burlington last weekend.

However, the 7-13 record keeps the Bears well within reach of Towson and Hofstra, which are both 8-10 entering a Wednesday makeup doubleheader in Hempstead, N.Y.

Maine has eight conference games remaining, all at Mahaney Diamond in Orono. They include a four-game series this weekend against 8-12 Drexel and a season-ending four-game set May 9-10 against Hofstra, both of which stand in the Bears’ path to the playoffs.

“We don’t have much time to fool around with it. We’ve got to turn things around,” said Maine senior Rex Turner.

“I think we’ll have that mindset that we’re going to come and start winning, sweeping teams,” Turner said. “We’re going to have to start winning.”

Though much of Maine’s fate lies in its own hands, the Bears made need some help in getting past Towson. The two teams split their regular-season series in Maryland, but the Tigers would win a tiebreaker by virtue of a win over top-seeded Delaware (18-2).

In addition to Wednesday’s doubleheader, Towson still faces four games each against 13-7 Northeastern and 12-8 Vermont. That leaves plenty of room for the Bears to make a late move, provided they can win six or seven of their last eight games.

Despite the lost weekend in Vermont, Kostacopoulos and the Bears remain confident they can get on another roll down the stretch.

“We’ve got to regroup and play good baseball for the last two weeks,” Kostacopoulos said. “It’s a sign of what kind of character we have if we can regroup.

“I think we’re a resilient team, but it all comes from the level of play,” he added. “You’ve got to play well to bounce back.”

Husson College heads to Aroostook County today for a Maine Athletic Conference doubleheader against UMaine-Presque Isle missing some key starters with injuries and others because of academic commitments.

Braves coach John Kolasinski explained Husson will be using senior first baseman/designated hitter Roy Peary as the catcher, even though he has no prior experience behind the plate.

Freshman starter Troy Corey has been sidelined for nearly two weeks with a bad back that has plagued him much of the season. Backup backstops Barrett Williams and Takeo Nakamura are healthy, but both remained in Bangor to take important classes.

Meanwhile, Husson is without Dennis Roy, a member of the pitching rotation, who has a sore arm. Starting shortstop Don Sawyer sat out last week with a pulled thigh muscle.